


Alma Mater

by mousapelli



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Age Difference, Aged-up teacher Sugawara, M/M, former coach/student
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 03:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12312759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mousapelli/pseuds/mousapelli
Summary: Sugawara is back at Karasuno as their new math teacher and volleyball advisor, but he wouldn't mind if the thing that was different was his relationship with Ukai.





	Alma Mater

**Author's Note:**

  * For [notallballs (notallbees)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/notallbees/gifts).



> Written for SASO 2017 Bonus Round 1: "Suga is a new teacher at Karasuno High, and takes over as academic advisor for the volleyball team. Your choice if he still used to play for Karasuno or the rest of the team is the same and only Suga is aged up!"
> 
> I kept canon age gap between Suga and Ukai, even though this is set when Sugawara has completed his teaching degree.

The very first thing Sugawara does is take a selfie in the gym, his face barely in the corner of the picture as it sweeps over the polished floors and high windows, and then he drops into the group chat which they still keep open — which Sugawara will always keep open even when they go for weeks without talking — and types _Guess where I am??????_

He promised himself he wouldn't cry over silly stuff like this, but Sugawara has to scrub at his eyes as the chat lights up like a Christmas tree with messages from Miyagi and Tokyo and Osaka and even California (Kageyama and Hinata's team have exhibition matches abroad this month). _Oh well_ , he figures. It's not like there's anyone to see.

"Shoulda figured I'd find you here," Ukai's voice comes from the doorway, and when Sugawara whirls around, there he is, leaning agains the doorjamb with the same smirk Sugawara remembers, the same wild hair pushed back from his face, although it's black now. "I should call you sensei now, right?"

"Suga will still do fine," Sugawara tells him. "Or even Koushi, if you prefer."

Ukai nods, smirk melting into something that's more serious, more about the history they share, even if it was just one year and it was four years ago. "And you could call me Keishin."

"I could never!" Sugawara laughs, echoing off the polished floor. "You'll always be coach to me."

Being club advisor on top of a first-year teacher is tough, and Sugawara understands after only a few weeks why Takeda had looked so frayed most of the time. But he also understands why Takeda had been willing to give up his time and energy for the team on top of his regular students. They've got a promising batch this year, hardworking and energetic, even if their second year setter doesn't think twice about telling everyone on the court what's wrong with their form, and if the two first years who are rivals never shut the fuck up about who's winning, and the two third years who used to be rivals aren't allowed to go to the broom closet together anymore.

So Sugawara should be heading home on Friday evening to work on the grading that's already out of control, but instead he finds himself watching game footage with Ukai, trying to figure out what the actual fuck they're going to do about Tokonami's improbable rise to semi-fame this year. He still brings the grading, but very little of it gets done. Half of it nearly gets set on fire when Sugawara jostles the ashtray Ukai's lit cigarette is resting.

"Ittetsu used to do that, too," Ukai comments as Sugawara scrambles. His smile is curled at the corners like an inexpertly rolled cigarette. "One time he doused a whole stack of essays in beer and we had to hang them up to dry on his balcony on his clotheslines with his underwear."

Sugawara chuckles, his own papers safe enough, this time. "Do you hear from him ever?"

"Yeah, a bit." Ukai picks up his cigarette and takes a long drag. Takeda had taken a job with a community college out in Osaka, Sugawara knew. What exactly had gone one between his old coach and his old club advisor, he did not exactly know, although he had a few suspicions. But Ukai could still smile about it, so it must have ended all right. "I sent him an email about you when Asahi told me they hired you. He said to tell you how proud he was."

"Let's get him to visit so he can tell me himself," Sugawara jokes, trying to swallow the small coal of emotion currently burning his throat.

"Let's surprise visit him and tell his coworkers all his embarrassing first year teacher stories," Ukai replies slyly, and Sugawara laughs so hard he elbows the table and sends the papers spilling to the floor.

Weekends aren't safe either, Sugawara getting roped into a Karasuno Neighborhood Association game. Asahi grabs him in a bear hug as soon as Sugawara appears, lifting him clear off the ground while their teammates whoop. He whispers that he's so glad Sugawara's home, voice already going wobbly, and Sugawara hugs him back and says, yeah, sorry to keep you waiting.

Sugawara is a little rusty, but after he warms up a bit he can still send up a toss just the way Asahi likes it (because obviously they play on the same side), high and a bit away from the net. When Asahi smashes it down, Sugawara looks through the net to find Ukai watching him with a raised eyebrow, as if to say he wouldn't mind a setter battle even a little, bring it on. Sugawara never really had a proper rival on the other side of the net, but maybe it feels a little like this, looking after every point to make sure the other is watching, grinning smugly when the point is yours and hollering some trash talk when it isn't.

"Geez, get a room, you two," Akiteru teases slyly when he strolls by for his serve, and Sugawara flushes warm and hopes no one sees it in the warm light of sunset. Fucking Tsukshimas, all the same.

Afterwards they all go out for drinks, everyone making a fuss over Sugawara, buying him drinks, teasing him about initiation rites. He tries not to get shamelessly drunk, but it's a lost cause. At least he manages to stay upright longer than Asahi, who could probably get drunk off flambé fumes. Sugawara nudges Asahi's head with his knee affectionately. He really did miss this big baby, and he wishes their third would come back from Tokyo already.

"Better rest up tomorrow, sensei," Ukai says, refilling Sugawara's glass despite his whines of protest. "Kids are gonna eat us alive on Monday if we don't."

Something draws tight in Sugawara's chest every time Ukai calls him 'sensei' and Sugawara hears Akiteru hissing get a room in his head. He thinks about how training camp is in two weeks, during which he and Ukai will certainly be having a room.

He opens his mouth to say something probably terrible, and barely manages to turn it into, "Can I have one of those?"

"Eh?" Ukai looks at the pack of cigarettes in his hand. "Do you smoke?"

"Just a little," Sugawara confesses. He'd picked it up in college and usually only does it when he's stressed out over exams or projects, but it's a good enough excuse for the moment. "Actually, can we get some air a minute?" Sugawara pats Asahi on the head as he stumbles to his feet, grabbing for Ukai's arm when he almost tips right back over. Ukai is solid and warm under Sugawara's hand, some kind of constant.

"Easy, easy," Ukai cautions, chuckling at him and setting him to rights. Once they're outside, they lean against the side of the restaurant like high schools sneaking a smoke behind the gym, and Ukai cups his hand around the end of Sugawara's cigarette while he lights it, then one of his own. "Feel like I'm doing something wrong, you being an old student and all. Do you know in their third year I caught Yachi-chan teaching Yamaguchi and Hinata to light a cigarette for a girl behind the clubhouse? She learned it from her mom."

"Oh my god," Sugawara coughs out a lungful of smoke. He can only imagine the scene, Ukai's hands on his hips, the other three's looks of horror. "What did you do to them?"

"Not a thing," Ukai laughed, low in his chest. "Hinata sucked in a drag of smoke when I surprised them, and fell on the ground like he was dying. Yamaguchi and Yachi went into full panic mode. I think Yachi might have tried to give him CPR? It was all I could do to make it around the the corner with a straight face. Ittetsu and I laughed until we cried about it in the office later. Shoulda taken a picture, oh man."

They smoke in silence for a few minutes, the spring breeze carrying it away.

"Ukai-kun?" Sugawara asks, and even calling him that feels strange, somehow illicit. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." Ukai shrugs, but his eyes are on Sugawara, low-lidded, and Sugawara's eyes are on Ukai's fingers when he puts the cigarette up to his mouth.

"Did you…" Sugawara pauses, then changes his mind about what terrible question he wants to ask. "Do you maybe have a thing for teachers?"

Ukai freezes, and Sugawara bites his lip to keep from giggling at his startled expression. At length he grumbles, "Not like there's been a _million_ of them, seems hardly fair to call it a _thing_."

"Not a million?" Sugawara's really good at this part, the part where he makes his eyes big and interested, the part where he leans in just a bit more until their shoulders brush. In high school he perfected this move on Daichi; Ukai reminds him of Daichi just a bit, in his steady strength, in the measured way he meets Sugawara's gaze, as if he sees right through what Sugawara is doing. "How many?"

"Two," Ukai answers. He's flushed, from alcohol or embarrassment or both. "Ittetsu."

"Mmhmm," Sugawara encourages him to go on. Ukai doesn't go on, but he drops his cigarette butt and grinds it out with his heel. Then he turns and puts his hand on Sugawara's cheek, his palm rough from work.

He strokes his thumb across Sugawara's cheekbone. Ukai's mouth is pressed into a thin line and his brow is furrowed, like he's still working out what to say. Sugawara would help him, but he doesn't know what to say either. Sugawara had grown a little more after high school, but Ukai is still taller, and Sugawara's glad.

"Koushi—" he starts.

"Would you kiss me?" Sugawara interrupts, strung out too long on suspense. Ukai's mouth twists like he's trying not to smile.

"Only if you call me Keishin," he says.

"Yeah, sure," Sugawara agrees, getting two fistfuls of Ukai's shirt and hauling him close enough to just get it done already. Ukai's kisses are thorough and slow, taking Sugawara's measure, and he tastes like smoke and karaage, as Sugawara assumes that he also does. Sugawara flattens his palm against Ukai's chest, feeling the steady thump of his heartbeat.

When the kiss breaks, Ukai doesn't go far, close enough to steal another chaste kiss while Sugawara's eyes are still closed, then another.

"Hey, coach," Sugawara says. "Take me home? It's not a school night."

Ukai groans softly, letting his forehead drop into the curve of Sugawara's neck. "You always were too much trouble for your own good. _Sensei_."

Sugawara shivers, then murmurs, "Keishin," into Ukai's ear to make him shiver too.


End file.
